Warehouse 13: "Emily Lake/Stand" Review

Warehouse 13 goes out with a huge bang... literally.

That. Was. Epic. This has been a game-changing season for SyFy's flagship series, and it's topped off with a fantastic finale that had a few flaws but was still extremely entertaining.

I'm glad the producers decided to go with a 2-hour finale because it gave us an opportunity to get a consistent story that hit hard from beginning to end. When the story opens with Pete and Myka sporting Tesla rifles, I knew this was going to be something special.

I won't spend much time recapping the events of this story because there was just so much crammed into this finale it would be hard to do, and I assume you've seen the show already (if you haven't, what are you waiting for? Go watch it!). So I'll keep the review to a balanced bit of gushing about the multitude of things I loved, and critiquing the bits that weren't so awesome.

The Story

Loved it. This is probably the most complex tale the series has ever produced. The 40th Floor was good practice, with it's 3-part storyline, but this finale weaves an even more complex tale as we follow Sykes' convoluted plan. When H.G. Wells shows up at a Wyoming high school, as a teacher/frumpy cat lady named Emily Lake, another level of complexity gets added. This episode makes the best use of an artifact we've seen in a long time. The Janus Coin proves to be a useful plot device as it makes it feasible for H.G's memory to be separated and stored separately from her body. The sequence that chronicles H.G's use of it is nicely done, and shows some skill with the writing and direction. This couldn't have been an easy scene to storyboard, but the end result is loveliness.

And then there is the true nature of Jinks' mission. It was all just a ruse! Of course, it was not a particularly unpredictable ruse (if you didn't see it coming, you may need your eyes checked). But what isn't as predictable was Steve's untimely end. It was a possibility given Sykes' penchant for killing his employees, but it's still somewhat of a surprise, and it was the first sign that this story wasn't messing around.

Warehouse 13 has come far; very far. But it still has a few kinks to work out before it's truly a top sci-fi show. There are some odd things about this finale. For example, somehow Myka suddenly knows Chinese well enough to recognize an obscure term like "aperture". Yes, Myka has a good memory and maybe she spent the long flight to Hong Kong reading up on the language, but come on. It would have been much better to just have a computer look it up. And when Pete and Myka get the drop on Sykes while he's forcing Tyler to play the dangerous chess game that serves as the lock for the regent area, they could have just shot him and been done with it. But they just had to give Sykes some time to get in a few bad guy lines.

Sykes in general was a problem. He wasn't the best villain. In fact, he's rather dull. It's not the fault of Anthony Michael Hall; he does a decent job. But the character was never written to be charming, interesting, or sympathetic. He's just an adequate force of evil that creates the tense situations the story needs. Fortunately for us, the plot and action work well enough to cover up the flaws.

The Acting

When Steve dies, all the actor's step up their game. Eddie McClintock delivers the most convincing emotional performance I've seen from him so far. Joanne Kelly is excellent as she goes into typical Myka mode just to keep things together. And dear Allison Scagliotti continues to prove she belongs on primetime. Although I wasn't so big on her scream upon finding Steve's body (seemed like a Darth Vader "noooo" moment to me), 95% of her performance is perfect. It used to be that the veteran actors had to carry this show, but the new kids have fully matured into their roles and are owning the direction of the series.

The climax

Holy crap! I Never saw that coming. I wasn't totally surprised that H.G. Wells sacrificed herself, but the total destruction of the entire warehouse and the death of Mrs. Frederic was stunning. Whatever small gripes I had about the few flaws were rendered completely irrelevant in those final moments. This is a fantastic, bold end to a season that marked the point when this show finally blossomed and showed its true potential.

Now, you may recall the cliffhanger ending from Season 1 where it appeared Artie was cooked extra crispy but ended up fine due to an artifact in his pocket. It seems we may end up in a similar situation next season with the mysterious watch Artie has. Time will tell, but I'm really hoping at least some of the dramatic events of this episode stick. This stuff was too good to get wiped away by a "deus ex artifact" trick that makes it all meaningless.

But that's all in the future. For now, we should all enjoy the fact that the series followed up on a trend of great episodes and ended stronger than it ever has before. If you're a fan of this series and you're not totally hyped for next season, go see a doctor because something is seriously wrong with you.